


Off the rails

by nishiki



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Big Sibling Luther Hargreeves, Brothers, Character Death, Comfort/Angst, Diego Hargreeves is a sweetheart, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Drug Withdrawal, Drugged Sex, Drugs, Fever, Gen, Good Sibling Diego Hargreeves, Good Sibling Luther Hargreeves, Hallucinations, Heavy Angst, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Idiot brothers, Immortal Klaus Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Luther & Diego working together, Luther Hargreeves Has a Human Body, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Off-screen Rape/Non-con, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Luther Hargreeves, Protective Siblings, References to Drugs, Sick Klaus Hargreeves, Soft Diego Hargreeves, Soft Luther Hargreeves, going cold turkey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:26:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25240849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: During a mission, Luther happens to come across his brother Diego. The two of them decide to work together as a team for once. Both of them are in for a horrifying surprise.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves & Reginald Hargreeves
Comments: 71
Kudos: 732
Collections: The Best of Klaus





	1. Chapter 1

The light that came from the expensive Tiffany lamps in Sir Reginald Hargreeves’ office was dimmed as the patriarch of the Hargreeves’ family leaned over his desk. In his hand, he was holding a fountain pen with gold inlays with which he was furiously scribbling into his leather-bound notebook. Luther Hargreeves was used to waiting patiently in front of his father’s desk until the old man would deem him worthy of his attention. Sometimes, Reginald would talk to him without ever lifting his gaze from his notes. Even when he was summoned to his father’s office for another mission, sometimes it would take ages until Reginald would look at him at all. 

Tonight, Luther was already in his new all-black leather uniform, his domino mask settles snugly on his face. 

"The police asked for our help in a matter of human trafficking." Sir Reginald finally said out of the blue and still did not meet his eyes. Luther clenched his jaw but kept his quiet. "We could track down the location of the suspects the police is trying to catch. They are involved in a much bigger drug ring in the city - but are too well protected when they are at their other venues. They are hiding their operation in one of the drug houses on Fleet Street near the docks. According to the data collected, tonight all three of the police's most wanted will be there. I expect you to detain the ringleaders before the police arrives." 

"Of course, Sir," Luther replied because it was the only acceptable response. Who was he to question why the police couldn't go to that crack house themselves? Who was he to question his father’s decision to intervene? Still, it seemed odd to Luther that his father would send him out to bust a couple of people involved in human trafficking and drugs. 

Not an hour later, Luther was outside of the crack house his father had sent him to. Their driver had dropped him off a few blocks away and there he would be waiting for Luther’s return as well. It was not the kind of location Luther was used to. He was used to the lairs of villains with high-tech gear or mysterious mansions full of elaborate traps and riddles. He thought back to their mission at the Eiffel Tower so many years ago when the academy had still been whole. When they had still been seven children inside their home. Now, he was the only one left there. And yes, he was lonely - even though he didn't want to think about it too much. 

What good would it do him anyway to think about it? Would it help him in his loneliness? Would it bring back his siblings to the academy? No - so why use time and energy on it?

The house was on the outskirts of town behind an old, partly demolished chain-link fence. The building used to be a rather posh house with no direct neighbors and thus best suited for the business that was run here. The once lavish and elegant townhouse was now nothing more than an empty husk staring at him out of dead eyes. First, he thought how odd it was that there was no light coming through the destroyed windows but as he crept closer he realized that the windows that were leading towards the streets had been boarded up and thus looked dead and blind in the darkness of the night. 

The once pristine white facade was covered in graffiti and huge chunks of the stucco trimming that went around the building had broken off over the course of decades of the house standing abandoned. The path that was leading to the front door of the house had long overgrown by weeds. Luther tried not to get distracted by imagining what this place might have looked like decades ago, or how expensive cars used to pull up the driveway and park right in front of the stone steps that were leading to the entrance. He couldn't see in the darkness if someone was watching him from the house but the closer he got the more he grew certain that no one inside had so far noticed his presence on the premises.

After everything he had read about this group of traffickers, they were not the type who would be running a very secure operation. Sure, they were doing their job well - which meant that they made the life of their puppets a living hell - but they didn't seem to be the type who had cameras all over the premises. They probably thought that their operation in this crack house was secure enough. It wasn’t their only venue, after all. They had underground brothels all over town. 

He had seen the photos and read the reports and it had been nearly impossible for him not to think about his brother Klaus in all of this. His brother whom he hadn't seen in years, who was living on the streets and was addicted to drugs. This house was designed to lure in the addicts around town. They would come here to take drugs, they would pass out during their high and either they would wake up somewhere else as the toy of some psycho that bought them for a hefty sum or they would wake up on the same dirty mattress they had passed out on with some guy on top of them paying someone else money for their services. Most people who would enter this house would not be allowed to leave again. It was a trap and too many people walked into it willingly. 

Places like this, people like those who were behind this operation, made him sick and paralyzed him with fear thinking that his brother could easily become one of their victims. If he was even still alive, that was. He had no idea if he actually was still out there somewhere. Last winter, they had gotten a call from a hospital and shortly after from a rehab facility about Klaus. But since then, radio silence. Much like with all his other siblings. He knew that he had helped to chase them all out of the house together with their father. He still missed them, though.

As he reached the front of the house he went straight to the front door.

"Wow," A voice suddenly chimed up from behind him and almost made him jump. "I would have thought that you were smarter than actually trying to go in through the front door. Maybe you want to ring the doorbell too? Or maybe you could use a megaphone and warn those assholes in there about your presence." 

"Diego" He growled. He had not heard Number Two approach the house - or had he been here already, waiting in the shadows, and just watched Luther to see how he would go about the situation?

As he turned around to face his brother, he could hardly see Diego in the darkness surrounding them. He was dressed in all black, knives strapped to his chest and legs, his old domino mask firmly in place. A part of him was not even that surprised that he would find his brother here. He was nonetheless annoyed. This was his mission and he couldn't have some vigilante interfere with it. After all, Diego had left the academy, had left the team.

"Are you playing Batman now?" He shot back in a whisper. The jab might not have been that insulting but it was the first thing that came to mind. 

"No, I’m saving people," Diego replied just as quietly though nonetheless bitingly sharp. "The thing we have been raised to do, remember? Of course, I imagine that Dad’s focus lies on capturing the bastards pulling the strings here and that he doesn’t much give a crap about the people in this house and what danger you appearing here could mean to them." 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You’ve never been a master of stealth." Diego shrugged. "If you go waltzing in there, people will shoot and others might get hurt."

"Collateral damage." Of course, some of the addicts inside might get hurt if Luther would go in and go straight for the attack. That was always a risk in these operations ever since he was alone. He no longer had a team to direct, no longer others who could make sure that the hostages or the victims or other innocent people wouldn't get hurt. Then again, were those addicts inside this house truly innocent? They were victims, sure, but innocent? Sometimes it was hard for him to see people like those as actual human beings. It was easier to remain indifferent towards them and remind himself that they had gotten into this mess themselves. And then he would think about Klaus. His baby brother who had always been a bit too trusting and naive at times. 

"See? That's what I mean." Diego then hissed. "Just imagine our brother being in there and getting hurt in the crossfire. Is he too collateral damage then? Like Ben?"

"Diego, I swear-"

"Shut up" Diego hissed. "Now is not the time, _Brother_. If you really want to help these people, follow me." 

He wanted to bite something back to the effect of _‘I am not going to follow a random vigilante who doesn’t know what he’s doing’_ or _‘I’m Number One’_ but he didn't. It would be childish and Diego wanted to make him look childish with his way of antagonizing him all the time. He wouldn't play into Diego’s ploy to make him look bad. He would prove that he could follow his brother’s advice if it was necessary - even though it was grinding his fucking gears. 

He followed Diego around the house until they came across a staircase - a later addition to the house - that was leading down to a door that, in turn, was leading into the basement of the house. "Have you been here before?" Luther asked, surprised that his brother knew about this entranceway.

"Of course" Diego sighed. "Scouting the area - first thing we learned, right? And now shhh!" 

Diego hurried down the stairs silent as a cat before he reached the door and made quick work of it with his lockpick. The door swung open with a creak and he saw his brother flinch at the sound. That didn't keep Diego from entering the building, though. Luther followed him inside. It was warm in the basement due to the summer heat of the past few weeks. And it smelled. He didn't wish to investigate the smell but his imagination was running wild already. 

It smelled like excrements and human waste. It smelled like blood and vomit and decay and suffering. In the basement, it was dark and Luther was tempted to switch on a light. However, he thought, maybe he didn't want to see what was around him. Images of dead bodies in plastic bags came to mind.

Diego found the stairs that were leading up first and he walked up the staircase with no hesitation.

"They like to play poker at this time of the night," Diego informed him quietly. "Those bastards meet once every month in this hellhole to play poker and have a look around. The rest of the time they have low-level drug dealers or pimps around to make sure their business flourishes. We can take out all 3 at once and only have to worry about their security then."

"We can't kill them though." Killing was allowed only under exceptional circumstances and when there was no way around it. The police expected to collect those criminals alive, after all, to make an example out of them and put up a clear front against organized crime in this city. 

"I know, relax." Diego hissed as if he had not 20 knives strapped to his body right now. It didn't really rub him the right way that he needed to go with Diego's plan but it became obvious to Luther that his brother had put much more effort into planning this coup than his father. His father had just expected him to go in, rough up the bad guys, and wait for the police to arrive.

"How much security is there?"

"Not many. Maybe three or five. They feel safe here. When we are done with them we should check on the junkies - in case some of them need medical attention. Those who don't we warn to skedaddle-"

"What?"

"We are here for the bad guys, not their victims. We don't want the police to arrest those poor fuckers after everything they've been through!"

"But they broke the law!"

"No one turns to drugs without reason, Luther. Have some sympathy, for God’s sake!"

"Is this about Klaus?" 

"We don't have time for this right now." Diego snapped. Of course, this was about Klaus. It was always about Klaus. He couldn't even blame him for it. Diego and Klaus had always been so close growing up. If it was Allison who could be in danger of this gang catching her … Heads would roll.

Before Luther could say anything else, the other man had already opened the door that led to the first floor of the building. Finding and detaining the three men they were looking for was as easy as Diego had anticipated it to be after they had made quick work of the security that was roaming about the place.

Soon they had all six men neatly wrapped up for the police to take away as soon as they would get the signal to come here from Luther. Sometimes Luther felt like the local police was relying a little much on the help of the Umbrella Academy ever since they came out of the woodworks with their superhero gig. The criminals were unconscious and would be unable to free themselves when Luther and Diego were finally done with them. 

"I’m gonna have a look around now." His brother stated after he had collected his knives and made sure not to leave anything behind that could tell of his involvement in this takedown. "Do what you gotta do, but give me a few minutes to tell those people to get away first, okay?" 

"Hey … listen..."

"What?" The word came out as sharp as a slap to the face as Diego turned back around to face him. The way he was holding himself, the balled fists and the tight jaw, spoke clearly of Diego’s willingness to fight him if necessary. 

"Thank you." Luther sighed at last but Diego only raised one brow in surprise. 

"I need you to elaborate." Of course, he did.

"Thank you for stopping me from going in earlier." He sighed defeated and watched Diego’s anger deflate like a balloon. "If I would have done what I always do … you are right, people would have gotten hurt. And since you were right with that, I am willing to follow your orders for today."

"What?"

"You heard me. Come on. Don't gloat." Diego just smirked at that before he cocked his head to the side, clearly contemplating his offer. At last, Diego nodded and waved him to follow along through the rat-infested building. 

Everywhere he looked was garbage and dirt, stained mattresses lying around on the ground, blankets and pillows, beer cans and empty bottles of hard liquor, used needles and all kinds of other shit. Luther had seen some things during their missions but this right here was the bottom of the barrel, the lowest place anyone could get to. The people that were lying around this place were lost souls that had thrown away their lives and their futures for their next high and even if Diego said that no one would just turn to drugs without good reason, Luther couldn't bring himself to feel pity or sympathy for these people here. They had dug this hole for themselves - but that didn't mean they would deserve to be exploited by men like those they had detained. As they were making their way through the first floor, Diego seemed largely unbothered by the smells and the shit they were seeing. He wondered how many places like this Diego had ventured into before - perhaps in search of their brother. He watched how Diego crouched down at the side of the people that were sprawled out on the mattresses of the first floor, checking for a pulse, trying to talk to them.

He couldn't help but feel awe as he watched his brother doing all this as if it meant nothing. Then again, Diego had always had been caring in a way that Luther never was. He cared for those he loved, of course, but it was different than the way Diego did it. A different flavor. Diego went out of his way to make sure other people were okay - not just his family or friends, even strangers like these people here. He was a kind soul and Reginald had almost succeeded in beating this out of Diego while telling him that he was weak because of it. 

"Hey, the police is about to show up." He heard Diego whisper to a person on the ground. His voice was gentle and calm as he spoke in a way Luther had last heard from his brother many years ago. This was the voice that was usually reserved for Klaus when their brother had been scared. "You better get going - and stay away from places like these, okay?" 

The young girl on the ground nodded sleepily but eventually she managed to get up and stagger down the hallway towards the front door. Luther wondered if she was aware that her jeans were undone. He felt sick watching her stumble out of this place. But Diego, if he felt the same, soldiered on, waking up those he could wake up and sending them on their merry way.

It seemed to take Luther ages until he woke from his stupor and followed his brother’s example. touching those filthy creatures on the ground took more out of him than he would have expected and the next moment he felt disgusted - not by them but by his own thoughts. Those people, even as they were lying in their own dirt, were still human beings. Someone’s daughters and sons, someone’s brothers and sisters. It was a long and grueling process to clear up the first floor and when they approached the staircase leading to the second floor, only a handful of people remained asleep on the floor. The paramedics would take care of them. Luther felt exhausted. He felt drained.

"How many more do you think are there?"

"Twenty?" Diego murmured. "More?" There was no bite to his voice now. He sounded just as exhausted as Luther felt. Not physically exhausted but mentally. All of this was taking a much higher toll on Diego than Luther would have anticipated and he knew why. Diego was probably afraid every time he was crouching down at the side of one of the young men around this place to see that it was his brother. He felt the same kind of panic settled deep in his chest by now. It made it harder to breathe. 

"Do you do this kind of thing often?"

"What? Going to crack houses? No." Diego sighed. "I try avoiding places like this." And yet he was here. "But I often beat up pimps and drug dealers." He then added with a snort. "Eudora say it's my favorite past-time."

"Eudora?" Luther echoed. "Your girlfriend?" Right now he realized that he hardly knew a thing about Diego's life. He knew that his brother went to the police academy and then promptly got his ass kicked out only two months later. Their father had been informed about all of this. In fact, he was sure that Reginald was keeping tabs on all of his children.

"Not anymore, no." Diego then shrugged. "But she’ll come around." He didn't seem too bothered so Luther didn't say _‘I’m sorry’_ or something equally stupid. He just nodded and followed Diego up the stairs. They were not the kind of brothers that would talk to each other like that or pour their hearts out to each other like this. "Okay, I’ll go right, you’ll go left, okay?" 

"Roger," Luther replied and they shared a rare smile at that. It was almost like it used to be when they were on missions together. Sure, Diego had always bitched about nearly everything he had done but they had worked well as a team regardless of their differences. Seeing now that it could still be like this or that they could be a proper team again, filled him with new motivation. Perhaps, when all of this was over, he could convince Diego to return to the house. Hell, he would have never thought that he would ever want that. But here he was. 

As Diego turned right, he turned left and walked into another corridor. In front of him was a row of open doorways - the doors had long been ripped out of their hinges and thrown out the broken windows by vandals. It was tempting to just ignore the people in the rooms behind those open doorways and just tell Diego that he had taken care of them. But he didn't want to betray Diego’s trust. Obviously, this was important to Diego. It didn't matter why it was important to him - it just was and Luther needed to respect that. 

So he walked into the first room at his right-hand side and found two girls lying on two dirty mattresses, passed out with needles still in their arms. At least they were laying on their sides. One of the girls was covered in vomit and he cringed at the smell and the sight. Yet, he walked over and checked her pulse before he gently shook her at the shoulder and told her to leave this place after she had woken up enough. Then he proceeded to do the same with the second girl. After he had dealt with those girls, he walked into the next room, repeating the same thing. In the third room, he found a girl passed out on her front, her skirt shoved all the way up, her underwear pulled down. He checked her pulse but left her for the paramedics to take care of her. Right now, he wanted to go back downstairs and kick the heads of the ringleaders in. This poor girl had probably not even known what was happening to her. 

Like this he moved on, waking up as many of them as he could but leaving those that were injured or wouldn't wake up. Somehow, as he reached the last room, he started to feel sick. There was just so much misery and hardships here and he felt like it would only get worse. To see people who had sunk so low, their lives in shambles, and effectively reduced to mindless and motionless sex slaves was hard. He didn't know how Diego did it.

As he entered the last room, he found three more people. Two young men and a woman in the corner. All of them were lying on their sides, turned away from the door. Luther went to the woman first, relieved to see that her clothing was more or less intact this time - which he knew meant nothing in this place. 

He shook her awake and she almost jumped at him in surprise before he told her to go. She didn't hesitate, just gave him a wild look and then jumped to her feet to run out. The first young man he turned to wouldn't wake up, his pulse weak but steady under Luther’s fingertips. He could only hope that the paramedics would arrive fast enough to save most of those people. He wondered what the ringleaders usually did to those who would die here. They probably threw them in a ditch or buried them somewhere. Maybe they would dispose of them in some dirty alleyway or a public bathroom. The police probably didn't care much about dead junkies. 

As he turned to the last person in the room, he turned the young man around without thinking about it like all the other times before. And then Luther found himself staring at half-lidded green eyes, a pale face, a hint of freckles dusting the bridge of a delicate nose, wild curls hanging in the man’s face, brittle lips hanging open.

He barely had enough time to understand what he was seeing or allow the shock to settle in as he heard Diego approach him from behind. "Hey, are you done? We better-" And then it was as if the whole world came to a crashing halt as Diego recognized their brother. Luther was all but shoved aside as Diego stormed over to them and pressed his fingers into the neck of the unresponsive young man on the ground.

"No, no, no!" He whispered frantically and pushed his fingers even harder into Klaus’ neck - so hard that Number Four would usually yelp in pain but he didn't react in any way right now. He just laid there, staring out of empty, glassy eyes.

※※※※※※※

They sat in silence in Diego's car and watched from a distance how the police arrived. Diego was sitting in the passenger's seat. He was in no condition to drive. Luther, however, watched idly how the blue and red lights were dancing in the darkness in front of the house. Their brother’s dead body was in the backseat, wrapped in the spare blanket Diego always kept in his car - for Klaus, undoubtedly. 

"What do we do now?" Luther whispered after a while. "With … with Klaus…"

"I don't know," Diego replied just as silently. He had taken off his mask. His eyes were puffy and red and Luther could still see the salty tear tracks on his tanned face. He looked completely drained and exhausted, staring ahead with unseeing eyes. He remembered the day Ben died. He didn't want to remember the day Ben died. He didn't want to remember all the blood and the gore and the guilt he had experienced on that fateful day. It was something they wouldn't talk about as a family. And yet it was there, always lingering in the back of his mind, refusing to let go of him. It was just there, mercilessly - and he thought that with Klaus it would be the same soon. 

He might not have been the one who had put the needle in Klaus’ arm or sold him the drugs in the first place but he had not taken care of his little brother either. He had not been watching out for him as he was supposed to be as the leader of this team, as Number One, as Klaus’ _big brother_. He hadn't been watching out for his other siblings either - sure, that they were doing okay, bitter by the fact that they had all left him behind.

" _Seven,_ " Diego whispered suddenly. "We used to be seven and now we are four." He knew what Diego was thinking right now. Who was next? Diego? Allison? Vanya? Luther? Who was next to go? What a horrible thing to think.

"It's not right," Luther replied quietly as if this way the universe wouldn't hear him and punish him for his blasphemy. Who was he, Luther Hargreeves, to say what was right and what wasn’t? "It's not. We came into this world together … we should leave it together." 

"Maybe we should bring him home," Diego sighed exhausted at last as he slumped back in his seat. "The least Reggie can do for him is to give him a proper funeral and-"

A sharp gasp made them flinch and jump in their seats as the dead body in the back of the car suddenly jolted upright. They both turned in their seats as one and stared at their dead brother who was suddenly very much alive and breathing hard as he sat in the backseat and was looking around in confusion as if he had just woken from a bad dream. His first instinct was to think that Diego had made a mistake when he went to check Klaus’ pulse but he himself had done it too. Klaus had been _dead_. His body had been cold and grown stiff when they carried him out of the house. _He had been dead._

Diego was the first who reacted as his left hand shot forward like a cobra going for the attack only to grab Klaus’ wrist and press his fingers into it almost painfully. 

"Woah … slow down tiger," Klaus mumbled. His voice was deep and hoarse. "Ask me out on a date first, at least."

"You were _dead,_ " Diego replied sternly before he grabbed Klaus’ face with both hands and pulled him closer towards them. Luther watched helplessly how Diego examined their brother’s green eyes and his pale face more closely now as if he was seeing him for the very first time. "You were dead."

"Dead tired..."

"No" Luther replied. " _You were dead!_ " 

"Hey … would you mind to have this conversation elsewhere?" Klaus finally mumbled as he managed to free himself from Diego’s grip. "I’m not feeling too hot right now." 

※※※※※※※

It was the first time that Luther actually saw where and how his brother Diego was living and he had no idea how to feel about it as he came face to face with the reality of Number Two’s day-to-day life. The last thing he had heard about Diego’s life after he had left the police academy was that he had started working as a vigilante who ran around at night and beat up criminals. He had never questioned how he was living - just imagined that his brother probably used his allowance to rent a proper apartment. Reginald might not agree with Diego’s choices, but he had not pulled the plug on Diego’s financial support either. 

But … Here they were now, in the boiler room of a gym that his brother had made into his own place. He had shoved a mattress into the corner of the room set up on a set of wooden pallets and hung a curtain from what looked to be a clothing line for proper privacy. He had put up some cabinets, a mini-fridge, a microwave, and an electric kettle. There were crudely placed bookshelves here and there and a workbench standing pushed against the wall.

At least it was warm, Luther thought, thanks to the boiler in the corner. Klaus was hardly able to walk. They had learned that when they had all gotten out of Diego’s car in the alley behind the gym. So, Luther and Diego had helped their brother from the car to Diego’s apartment with patience - which resulted in Luther actually carrying Klaus after it became clear that his feet were barely able to support Klaus’ weight. Now, he was sitting on the makeshift bed in the corner and was looked over by Diego who inspected the wounds that Klaus was littered in. 

"You need a bath, bro" Diego whispered softly. "You can use the showers upstairs." 

"That sounds heavenly."

"I’ll help you," Diego promised but both Klaus and he knew that Diego was only saying this because he didn't want to leave Klaus out of his sights in case he wanted to take off again - not that he seemed very capable of that right now. As Luther now stared at his brother, the true horror of what Klaus had been through had time to sink in. He had been in this crack house for god knows how long, lying in his own filth, being supplied with drugs to keep him sedated and quiet until his heart just gave out or he suffered a stroke or whatever else had killed him. If they would not have taken down those people tonight, their brother might have ended up in a ditch or a shallow grave and none of them would have ever known it. It was a miracle, a god-damn miracle, that Klaus was alive and breathing again. 

Klaus looked absolutely horrible. Last Luther had seen him was when they were seventeen, just four years ago. He had always been on the thinner side but right now Klaus was the poster boy for heroin-addiction. He was almost skeletal as he sat there. No wonder he hadn't been able to move from the car to the gym. He could only assume that his muscles had degraded over however long Klaus had spent in this house. He wondered if Klaus had ever gotten up from that mattress after he had first laid down. His hair had grown longer, his skin was pale and looked like wax how it stretched thinly over the sharp bones of his face. His beard was unkempt, his arms so thin that Luther was sure he wouldn't even be able to hold a glass of water right now. There were bruises littering every inch he could see thanks to Klaus’ very revealing choice of clothes. Some of the marks on his body were from the needles he had used, some of them came in the shape of handprints. 

He could see how much Diego’s hands were shaking as he tried to clean up a wound on Klaus’ face. "How long have you been there?"

"I don't know" Klaus shrugged. "What month is it?"

"July," Diego replied diligently. 

"Oh … Well in that case … Maybe … three months or so?" 

"How did you get there?"

"A friend told me about this place. We went there together to get high … hmm ... weird." 

"Do you remember anything about that time?"

"Bits and pieces, I guess." Klaus murmured before he allowed his head to drop on Diego’s shoulder as if his neck couldn't support his own head any longer. He was like a newborn kitten and the thought made his stomach turn. 

"We should try this shower" Diego nudged his brother gently.

"I’m … I’m heading to the diner down the road" Luther blurted out as a way of getting his bearings back. "Getting food." 

Diego gave him a grateful little nod before Luther all but rushed outside again. All of a sudden he had felt as if he couldn't breathe in that basement. How was all of this even possible what Klaus went through while he was unaware and sitting in this big mansion minding his own business? How could such a thing exist? How could such a world exist?

When he came back to the gym about fifteen minutes later with two paper bags full of burgers for Diego and him and waffles for his little brother in the other bag, he was still shaken up. While he had been waiting in line to get his order, briefly his thoughts had traveled to his father inside that big house. Luther had shut off his earpiece and thus his connection to his father right after they had found Klaus and so the old man was still none the wiser about Luther’s whereabouts. Usually, he would feel guilty but right now, he just couldn't bring himself to feel anything but frustration towards his father. His father who was sitting in that office all the time. His father who had allowed Klaus to slip away from his grasp like this. His father who could have prevented Klaus from going through hell. A part of him wondered if Reginald had known where Klaus was.

He tried not to show any of this as he walked back into Diego’s apartment and found his brothers in there. Klaus was wrapped in a bathrobe - which made him honestly question where Diego got a bathrobe from - and sitting leaned against a few pillows on Diego’s bed. Diego was sitting at the end of the bed in a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants and a white muscle shirt, Klaus’ feet in his lap, and inspecting Klaus’ fingernails and his hands carefully. Only as Luther walked inside, they looked at him. For a second, he felt as if he was interrupting a very tender moment between those two. He cleared his throat awkwardly and soldiered on regardless.

Klaus - now clean thanks to the shower that Diego had undoubtedly had to help him with considering that Diego too was no longer wearing his vigilante outfit - looked a little better. Diego had also taken care of Klaus’ beard as it seemed. Now they got their clean-shaven little brother back who actually looked his age too. He still needed a haircut, though.

"I brought waffles," Luther said with a nervous smile only to have it returned by Klaus. He walked down the stairs into the room and walked up to the bed in the corner to hand over the bag with the waffles. "And burgers for us. I just thought … he could do with some sugar."

As he pulled a chair over to the bed, he could see how much Klaus’ hands were trembling. He wondered if he was already going through withdrawals. Well, if he had been supplied with drugs pretty much 24/7 for three whole months, it was likely that he was already craving. With trembling fingers, Klaus opened the bag and tore a piece of his waffles out of it to shove it in his mouth. It felt good to watch him eat and after a few seconds of watching him, Diego and he started eating their burgers too. He knew that Diego was not much of a fan of fast food but, he thought, after the night they had Diego’s body would forgive him for the indulgence. 

"What are we going to do now?" Diego asked after a few moments only to have Klaus look at him confused - as if he had not asked himself the same question. He wondered if his brother was even recognizing the seriousness of the situation he was in right now. It wouldn't surprise him if Klaus wasn’t fully aware of everything yet. Not after how they had found him.

"We should bring him to the academy," Luther said without much hesitation. It just seemed the most logical step to take. "Dad is surely awaiting my return and my report. I should have been back a while ago. Mom and Pogo can take care of his wounds, detox him, and help him return to strength."

"No," Diego shot back. "Not the academy. We have to get him to the hospital. Dad won’t treat him and if he finds out that Klaus can come back from the dead - just imagine what he will do to him!"

"He won’t do anything to him!"

"No? Then tell us what he did to _you_ during your special training because I was locked in a fucking water tank for hours on end." He hissed suddenly. 

"He locked me in a mausoleum" Klaus whispered finally. By now Luther had almost forgotten that he was there. It was strange for Klaus to be so silent but here he was. His brothers’ words, however, hit Luther like a ton of bricks. The mausoleum? A water tank? He wanted to argue against what Klaus and Diego had just said immediately but he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth. 

He watched how Diego brushed a hand through Klaus’ outgrown, messy curls and wondered how long his brother had known about that mausoleum Klaus was talking about and why he had never said anything to Luther. _Because I wouldn't have believed them._ Why did he believe them now? He thought about Diego in a water tank for hours and hours, forced to hold his breath or drown. He thought about Klaus being locked in a mausoleum with his biggest fear surrounding him and no way of escaping. He thought about being in the gym down in the basement, with the hydraulic weight pressing down on him mercilessly with ever-increasing strength and how often he had feared that his muscles would finally cave and allow the weight to crush him. He still had nightmares of that time. Nightmares of broken bones poking through his flesh and a shattered body, of his father standing over the bloody, broken mess that was left of his body only to shake his head in disapproval and tell him how disappointed he was.

"We can't stay here though … not forever" Luther muttered after a few seconds of silence.

" _We?_ " Diego echoed sharply, his eyes locked on Luther’s in a silent challenge. "No offense, Luther, but I am out here looking out for our brother for the past four years and I think I can deal just fine with all of this mess. Just go home to dad."

He didn't want to. For the very first time in the nearly twenty-one years of his life, he felt like he didn't want to see his father because otherwise, he couldn't guarantee for what he might do then. Right now, he just wanted to make sure that Klaus was safe. "No offense" He repeated Diego’s previous words with just as much venom as he had used. "but _you_ looking out for our brother led to him ending up as a fucking sex slave in a crack house for three months, Diego."

He knew that Diego was about to throw a knife at him but Klaus put a hand on his brother’s hand. This gesture alone seemed to deflate Diego. 

"Right now, he needs medical attention," Luther said patiently. "He was on drugs 24/7 for the past couple of months - he needs medical professionals to help him with his withdrawals and detox. He is malnourished, he can hardly move because his muscles have deteriorated so much already! Diego, you cannot look after him yourself in this boiler room!" 

"Okay … So … Could you guys maybe stop talking about me as if I wasn’t here?" Klaus spoke up quietly but there was barely any strength in his voice. He looked a little like he was about to throw up and only then Luther realized the things he had spat at Diego without considering how it would make Klaus feel. It was easy to forget that Klaus had feelings like any normal person had, sometimes. Klaus who, used to make a whole show about having a papercut. Klaus, who never said anything when he was seriously hurt or feeling rubbish. Every normal person would be traumatized after what had happened to Klaus. Maybe that was why he was seemingly so calm right now. He was in shock. 

Diego looked just as sheepish as he felt at this moment.

"Hospital," Diego then said to Klaus with newfound determination. "I know you don’t like hospitals but … the alternative is going back home."

"No hospital." Klaus shook his head, his eyes now pleading as he looked at Diego. "Please, Diego!" He sounded desperate and he looked the part too as he reached out to their brother to take his hand. Luther had never really understood their relationship. He had never really understood why they were so close and why they understood each other so well. As he sat there now and watched them, it was like it used to be when they were children. Klaus was pleading with Diego and he could see the determination of Number Two crumble. 

"No hospital" Diego sighed and brushed his hand over Klaus’ cheek. "Okay. But Luther is right … We can't just stay here and hope for the best … I can’t take care of you alone." And now Diego was the one who sounded torn and desperate. It was clear to Luther that all his brother wanted was to help Klaus and know him in safe hands. It must be awful to know that Diego was not the person who could give him what Klaus really needed right now. 

"Diego…"

"Allison," Luther cut in and surprised even himself. "Allison could help." 

"So what do you propose?" Diego sighed. He looked gaunt and grey in the face as he looked at Luther next. Years of looking out for their brothers out there on the streets had taken its toll on Diego and this night had not helped in the slightest. 

"We go to L.A," Luther said with newfound determination. Allison would help them. He knew that she would. She would buy Klaus into the best possible facility and their brother would get better. They would help him along the way, far away from their father’s grasp. "Together."


	2. Chapter 2

It was a bad idea. It was the worst possible idea. He had told Luther as much before they left town in their pursuit of traveling to L.A. And yet they were still sitting together in Diego’s car driving down the highway with Klaus curled up tightly in a blanket in the backseat. They had started their drive only two hours after coming up with the plan with barely any rest in between rescuing their brother from this crack house and actually getting in the car. It would take them around 48 hours to get to L.A if the traffic would allow it and if they would stop as little as possible. 

They had agreed on driving in shifts. One would drive while the other would try to sleep. On paper, that might have seemed like a good plan but four hours into their trip, Diego realized the massive gaping holes in their plan. One of these giant holes was lying in the backseat. There was no way in hell that Klaus would manage to pull through a 48-hour long drive. He had already woken up twice to puke his guts out and he was only getting worse by the minute. 

Diego had seen him go through withdrawal before but it had never been this bad. Right now, he was sleeping again but his breathing was going labored and unsteady and by the furrow of his brows Diego could tell that he was in pain. It was driving him insane. Maybe it was him being fucking exhausted too. The radio was playing some stupid late ‘90’s soft rock song and Luther was still wearing his stupid fucking uniform! He wanted to turn his car around and drive back home to get his brother to a hospital. He might be immortal but he was still very obviously suffering!

“That was a stupid idea” Diego mumbled quietly into his beard. By now a new day had broken and greeted them with rain and storm clouds on the horizon as they were driving through the middle of nowhere. They had decided that they wouldn’t take the direct way across the country leading them through South Dakota and Kansas but instead opted to travel through Virginia instead. There were fewer construction sites along the way and the time difference was minimal considering the delays from the construction sites. 

As they were somewhere near Baltimore, the heavens truly opened its floodgates. 

“You said that about a million times by now.” Luther shot back with just the hint of annoyance clinging to his raspy voice. They were both in dire need of a break. He could feel the angry tension rising between them. Well, being pent up in a car with his least favorite sibling was certainly not Diego _or_ Luther’s idea of a good time. They didn't get along on good days already and this right here was a proper nightmare.

“Because it's true,” he hissed impatiently. “We should have never followed your stupid plan!”

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Luther growled. “I mean you were the guy going all soft on Klaus as he used his puppy eyes on you! If you really thought that this was that stupid an idea then why didn't you insist on getting him to a hospital? Oh yeah, that's right because you could never do anything if it means Klaus is a bit scared!”

“ _A_ _bit scared?_ ” Diego yelped. “Do you have any fucking idea what life is like for Klaus? Do you have any idea why he is so fucking scared of hospitals, to begin with? No, because you never really cared, didn't you? You ate everything up what dad said! You never bothered to ask Klaus about his powers or why he fell into addiction! For you it's easy!” 

“Because you did such a fantastic job out there, right? Hero of the day, Diego Hargreeves! Congratu-fucking-lations! Good thing that our brother had you to look after him, right? It only cost him his fucking life in a crack house after god knows how many men took advantage of him!”

“You fucking asshole!” Diego yelled without even thinking about Klaus in the backseat. He didn't know what provoked the following - if it was them yelling at each other or just the amount of pain Klaus was surely in. However, just as Luther opened his mouth to throw another insult at him, all hell broke loose in the car. Klaus began screaming so suddenly and so violently, that Diego nearly drove in a ditch as he yanked the steering wheel to the side.

※※※※※※※

Diego’s car stopped with screeching tires at the side of the road as, in the backseat, their brother Klaus was screaming like a pig for the slaughter. He was clawing at his skin as Luther finally managed to turn around in his seat and look at him. His heart was still racing in his chest and his head was spinning from the near-death experience that was Diego almost driving his fucking car in a ditch because of the sudden screaming from the backseat. They were lucky that there was no other car around right now, otherwise, they might just have gotten into a serious accident.

He was still trying to get his bearings back as Diego was already jumping out of the car and hurried to open the backseat door. He just sat there, watching how Diego wrestled their brother out of the backseat. It looked rough and if he wouldn't know those two, he would be scared that Diego was hurting the much frailer man. Instead, however, Diego sat down with Klaus at the side of the road, despite the rain that was already soaking them both and pulled him against his chest.

“It's okay.” He heard Diego mutter as the vigilante was rocking Klaus back and forth with him. “It's okay. It's just withdrawal. We’ll get through it, I promise.” Klaus kept screaming in pain as if he was boiling alive or being torn apart by wolves. Luther finally managed to scramble out of the car. He rushed over to Diego’s trunk and opened it. Before they had left the city, at least they had managed to buy a few things - including water. He grabbed one of the bottles and hurried over to his brothers. Only then he realized just how tight Diego’s grip was on Klaus as Number Four was thrashing in Diego’s arms, kicking and screaming and in agony as it seemed. 

He had never seen anything like it and he had never heard his brother Klaus scream like this either. No matter what stupid shit he had done that caused injuries and broken bones to him, he had never screamed like this - or screamed at all, for that matter. Klaus had always been resilient, always able to play down his more serious injuries in the past. Right now, however, it seemed all the pain he had always downplayed came rushing out of him like a tsunami and now that the gates had opened, he couldn't close them anymore. 

“What's going on?” Luther asked even though he could very well see it. He spoke without thinking as he crouched down next to the duo in the mud.

“Withdrawal” Diego mumbled quietly as if he didn't want to spook Klaus. “I’ve never seen it this bad, though.” Then again, Klaus had probably never been in such a bad state before too. He swallowed the remark. It wouldn't help any of them right now. “He’s burning up,” Diego informed him. “We can’t go any further like this. This is absolute madness, Luther. We need to get him to a doctor.”

He wanted to say that Klaus was immortal but even he knew that it would be insensitive and cruel because right now Klaus was in terrible pain - and who was to say that Klaus really was immortal just because he came back to life once?

Luther uncapped the bottle of water and Diego forced Klaus’ head in the right direction so that Luther could bring the bottle to Klaus’ lips. To his surprise, Klaus drank the water greedily. He would have expected him to fight against it. 

“I think I saw a sign a mile ago. There should be a town nearby.” 

“Okay” Diego breathed. “You drive, I’m gonna sit with him.” It became more and more obvious that they could not wait for Klaus to calm down because there simply was no telling _if_ he was going to calm down without the help of a doctor. He helped Diego to get Klaus back into the backseat and handed him the water bottle again as Diego was sitting in the car as well before he scrambled to get into the driver’s seat and started the engine again. 

Luther took one steadying breath before he pulled back into the road and sped down towards the nearest city ahead. Occasionally, he glanced in the rearview mirror and watched Diego and Klaus in the backseat. Diego was holding Klaus close and their brother finally seemed to have passed out again. They reached a small town by the seaside within just a few minutes and right as they were driving into town, Luther worried that the people here wouldn't even have a hospital or a good, qualified doctor that could help their brother. 

“We should stop at a motel, get him settled and then I’m gonna search for a doctor, okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good” Diego replied much calmer than only minutes ago and not nearly as snappy as he would usually be. He was probably just tired, exhausted, worn-down by this whole situation. 

They found a small motel near the highway as they drove into town. The sign at the street corner read ‘The Crescent Motel’ and an advertising poster next to it showed a smiling family near a pool. Luther pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car. He didn't want the clerk to see Klaus and make assumptions about them. So, Luther made haste to enter the lobby of the motel. A young lady sat behind the front desk and looked up from the book that she was reading as he entered. She greeted him with a smile and got up from her chair. 

It took about ten minutes until Luther left the lobby with a keycard and went back to the car, got in, and drove it closer to where their room was located. If the young woman had recognized Luther she hadn’t shown it. Thankfully, the room was so far from the lobby that the young woman would not see Diego and Luther how they finally carried Klaus over to the room and brought him in. 

The room was small and a bit old-fashioned. The wallpaper seemed to be a relic from the ‘70s as was the carpet. There were only two beds. A small rabbit-ear TV sat on a table and a phone was set up on one of the nightstands with a list of important numbers right next to it. In the corner of the room, Luther located the mini-fridge and on top of it a dusty looking microwave. An electric kettle sat dangerously close to the TV but Luther doubted that the motel guests usually made use of those items anyway so that health and safety were not nearly as high on the list of priorities for the owner of the motel as it ought to be. At least the bathroom had a tub, as the young woman had informed him earlier.

“He’s still burning up” Diego muttered as he put Klaus on the bed that was closest to the bathroom. “We need to get his fever down.”

“Here’s a list with useful numbers - there’s the number of a doctor on it,” Luther informed quietly as he glanced down at the list quickly. As he noticed Diego’s impatient glare, however, he decided to spring back into action. “Okay … we should put him in an ice bath, I guess … and then I’m calling this doctor.” 

On the way to the room, he had already noticed that the ice machine was just a couple of feet away from their room. So, after he got a nod from Diego, Luther grabbed the ice bucket that was on the ground next to the mini-fridge and left the room to get the ice. When he returned he found his brothers in the bathroom. Diego had already undressed Klaus and started running the bath while their brother was leaning against the wall, sitting on the toilet. His eyes were open but he seemed barely conscious. Luther doubted that Klaus had any idea what was going on around him. 

Without wasting a second, Luther dumped the ice into the already cold water and, as the bath was filled up enough, turned off the faucet. He left it to Diego to pick up their semi-conscious naked brother to place him in the tub. He himself didn't dare to touch Klaus. Not now that his injuries were on full display for Luther to take in. His pale skin was mottled with bruises, some faded, some fresh, turning Klaus’ body into a proper minefield.

“You need to help me holding him down” Diego warned. The bathroom was a tight squeeze as they were manhandling Klaus into the tub and even more so as Number Four began thrashing around like a fish on land the second he hit the icy water. Diego did his best to hold him down by the shoulder and Luther grabbed Klaus’ flailing legs. Their brother was so thin and weak that it was not much of a challenge for Luther - the bigger challenge was to not further hurt him. Right now it seemed just so easy to accidentally break a bone or two of Klaus’.

Finally, after sheer endless minutes of this, Klaus gave up his struggles and leaned against Diego with a whimper. “Shh,” Diego cooed. “I know, I know. Everything’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Luther though was honestly questioning just how much Klaus actually understood of what Diego was telling him. He seemed completely out of it. Poor bastard. 

“Okay,” Luther said clearing his throat. This whole situation was so uncomfortable to him that he wanted to be anywhere else right now. Working together with Diego as a team had always been challenging but working with him under these conditions? With their only other living brother naked in a tub filled with ice-water? It was a nightmare. Emotions were running hot between Diego and him under normal circumstances but this right here … it was a recipe for disaster. “I’m gonna call the doctor now. You okay with him?”

“Yeah … I’ve got it” Diego tried to sound reassuring but even he probably had to realize that he wasn’t. Luther still left them alone in the bathroom to sit down on one of the beds in the room. He gathered himself first before he grabbed the rotary phone on the small table next to the bed and dialed the number from the list next to the phone. 

While he waited for the call to be picked up, he listened to the sounds that were coming from the bathroom. Vaguely, he could hear Diego hum and immediately tried to drone the sound out. It suddenly felt too intimate, too personal for him to hear how his brother was trying to comfort and calm Klaus. After the call was finally picked up, Luther had to wrestle a secretary into submission just by talking to her. Talking had never really been his strong suit and she seemed unwilling to get her boss to come to the motel - that was until Luther finally used his surname to his advantage. The moment she heard the name Hargreeves, her whole attitude towards him changed and she promised that the doctor would come as soon as possible. It was good to see that the name Hargreeves hold some weight even in this backwater town somewhere near Baltimore but Luther knew that giving his real name held a certain danger as well.

He wasn’t afraid of his father or that Reginald would come after them. He had never had any real reason to be afraid of his father. After all, everything Reginald had ever done to them had been in the name of the greater good, right? What was a little suffering if it meant they would be able to save the world one day? Still, he had gone against his father’s strict orders for the first time in his life and now he was somewhere in the middle of nowhere with one brother going through a violent withdrawal and another brother on the verge of a mental breakdown. The next time he would see his father, he wanted to give Reginald a reason to be proud of Luther.

 _As soon as possible_ was, as it turned out, twenty minutes later. The brothers had just lied Klaus on the bed closest to the bathroom and dressed him in a pair of Diego’s boxer shorts as there was a sharp knock at the door. Quickly, Luther hurried over to open even though Diego seemed much warier. The man on the other side was much younger than Luther would have expected. His brown hair was greying at the sides already and a few wrinkles around his eyes betrayed his age but other than this he looked handsome and young.

“Mr. Hargreeves, I take it?” The man said. He was wearing a raincoat and holding onto a large leather bag. “Dr. Cooper. May I come in?”

Luther nodded quickly and stepped out of the way to let the man in. “Thank you for coming, Doc,” He said as Dr. Cooper was already taking in the room. Diego was sitting beside Klaus on the edge of the bed and gave the man by the entrance a nod as a way of greeting. After that, Dr. Cooper quickly moved over to the bed without any hesitation. Luther watched how the doctor shooed Diego out of the way but his brother remained close to the bed just in case Klaus got spooked by the presence of a stranger - even though Luther doubted that the poor asshole registered any of that.

So, the brothers could only watch as the doctor started to inspect his patient - with Diego blurting out every answer the man wanted to hear. In the end, there was not much the doctor could do without getting Klaus to a hospital.

“If he stays here and doesn’t get proper treatment, your brother could have a heart attack or a stroke. His body is weak and malnourished and going cold turkey is already dangerous as it is.” Dr. Cooper said after a while. “I can only give him something to keep the fever in check but I cannot give him anything stronger than ibuprofen for the pain. He needs fluids, though.”

“We can’t get him to a hospital, Luther” Diego told him as if he had been the one bringing the topic up again.

“No, I know” He replied quietly. “I know.”

Dr. Cooper didn't seem willing to argue much against their decision but the look he gave both brothers was quite telling anyway. He didn't agree with their decision but, in the end, the man probably knew that he wouldn't be able to force them. “Well, if you want to do this here in this motel, I can drop by tonight again after I closed the practice. He won’t be able to keep anything down. You can try soup, though and loads of water - tea might help. But I warn you: It will be rough.”

“If he gets too bad we can still drive him to the hospital” Diego interjected before Luther could say anything. Dr. Cooper gave an exhausted sigh and started rummaging in his bag again. He pulled out a bottle with a clear liquid and a fresh needle. Diego quickly turned away from the sight as Dr. Cooper finally administered the medicine to Klaus that would hopefully lower his fever and get his temperature under control. Then the physician put a bottle of ibuprofen on the bedside table.

“He will probably be asleep for a few hours now. When he wakes up, give him two of those with plenty of water and make sure he eats some soup. Your brother now needs every bit of strength he can get.”

It was obvious that Dr. Cooper was unhappy as he finally left the trio of brothers behind but at least he had bought their story about not being able to go to a hospital because of who they were - for now. They were lucky that Dr. Cooper was helping them at all, though.

“I’m gonna head into town,” Luther told Diego. “I will call Allison and ask her to send us some money here. We could use my credit cards but then Dad would know where we are … so … And when I’m in town, I’m gonna buy some food and soup for Klaus and … do you need something?”

“We need medical supplies … and clothes for Klaus. He can wear my crap for a bit but he needs something that actually fits him.”

“No problem” Luther replied. “I see what I can find.”

When Luther returned an hour later, he found Diego fast asleep in the bed next to their brother. Diego was still leaned against the headboard of the bed but now Klaus was lying draped over his lap with his upper body. It didn't look very comfortable but clearly Klaus was okay with this as he was fast asleep while Diego was snoring. For once, he wished he had a camera to take a picture of this.

At least Diego got some sleep, he thought. At least Klaus got some sleep. He himself felt bone achingly tired as well. So, carefully and quietly he closed the door behind himself and put down the shopping bags before he sat down on the second bed. He got rid of his shoes and allowed his back to hit the mattress for just a moment. Before he knew it, however, he was fast asleep.

※※※※※※※

Diego jolted awake from someone kicking him in the ribs. At first, he didn't recognize the room he was in as he ripped his eyes open but then, as he heard the sound of retching, everything came back to him at once; the crack house, his brother dead on a dirty, soiled mattress, the car ride, the motel. Klaus was no longer in bed next to him. He found him on the ground puking his guts out. 

He scrambled to help his brother even though there really wasn’t much he could actually do for Klaus right now. Suddenly, there was Luther with the ice bucket for Klaus to puke in - even though there shouldn't be anything left in Klaus’ stomach anymore. The waffles from last night had come up _hours_ ago, after all. He hadn't even noticed that Luther had gotten up too. There was still light coming through the windows of the motel room but it almost looked like the sun was setting outside. Fuck, how long had he slept for? Above the smell of vomit, he noticed the distinct smell of cold food hanging in the air and that almost made him gag as well. 

While Klaus was throwing up his lungs, Diego could only gently pat his back and brush soothing circles into the clammy skin of Klaus’ back. The whole thing was over just as quickly as it had started and left Klaus weak and drained as Diego pulled him away from his sick and against his chest. He laid his hand on Klaus’ forehead and found his skin warm again - but not nearly as bad as before and probably just from the exhaustion he had suffered.

Luther got up from the ground and grabbed the bucket to empty it into the toilet. As he came back he looked a bit awkward first before he looked around as if he was looking for something to do. “I’m … Let me open the door to get fresh air in…” He trailed off as he walked over and opened the door. Outside it was raining cats and dogs. Rain was slamming hard on the asphalt of the parking lot.

“Where are we?” Klaus slurred but Diego carefully pulled him back onto the bed. 

“It's okay” Diego replied gently and brushed his hand through Klaus’ messy hair. “It's okay, you are fine.”

“I don't feel fine.”

“I know” Luther came back to them a few moments later with a wet washcloth and handed it to Diego. Thankful for the help Diego gave a court nod and started wiping down Klaus’ sweaty face to get the sick off of his skin. Luther took the washcloth back without making a face and then walked back into the bathroom. Not long after, he came back with the ice bucket filled with water and started cleaning off the mess on the floor with a towel and water as best as he could. 

“Sorry” Klaus murmured as he leaned against Diego and allowed his head to loll against his brother’s shoulder.

“Not your fault” Luther replied calmly, taking Diego by surprise. He had half expected his brother to lose his shit at the unpleasantness of all of this. “Hey … do you feel up for some soup?” Luther turned back to them. “I have got you chicken soup, we just need to reheat it.”

Just a few moments later they were eating with the TV running as background noise. They didn't have much choice when it came to the channels they could be watching so they ended up watching cartoons.

“Hey” Klaus muttered between spoonfuls of soup. He seemed barely able to hold his plastic spoon though. He was trembling like a leaf and yet he soldiered on. “Remember when Dad went on that trip when we were … six? We snuck down one Sunday morning and watched cartoons on the small tv in the kitchen.”

“Until Pogo caught us” Luther chuckled.

“Yeah, because Five tattled on us.” Diego snorted. It was true that they, as a trio, hadn't shared many pleasant memories together but there were a few times when it had been them three doing something silly together - with Five always being much too serious to get involved in their shenanigans and Ben being too careful to risk provoking their father’s ire. Those instances had become less and less the older that they got, though.

“I remember us having a race and that I won.” Klaus mused.

“You won because Luther gave you a piggyback ride and allowed you to win just to piss me off” Diego laughed.

“Would do it again” Luther grinned. “Your face was priceless when you saw _Twiggy_ here waiting for you at the finish line.”

“ _Twiggy_ ” Klaus huffed. “Haven’t heard that one in years”

“Ah the good old times” Diego hummed as he finished his meal. Klaus had still not nearly managed to plow through half of his soup but at least he was eating a little. It would probably come up in less than an hour again but he was trying. Diego thought about that nasty stomach bug he had caught with eleven and how badly he had suffered then. He knew, though, that this stomach bug had not even been half as bad as the thing Klaus was suffering through right now. 

The worst, Diego knew, was yet to come as soon as Klaus had gone through withdrawal. Because then the emotions would come back full force and with them the trauma he had suffered. Fuck … They really weren’t equipped to deal with that. How were they, a trio of emotionally constipated men, going to deal with all this crap that would come bubbling to the surface soon?

※※※※※※※

Klaus was awake when Dr. Cooper came by a little later. He was wrapped in a blanket as the doctor entered the room in the wee hours of the evening. Luther had bought Klaus a few things to wear but his brother was going from being deathly cold to boiling hot in five-minute intervals by now so they had opted to wrap him in blankets instead of dressing him. They would need to change his clothes and wash them otherwise every few hours anyway. Dealing with Klaus while he was going through withdrawals was a bit like Luther imagined dealing with an infant would be. Only that Klaus could talk and tell them what was wrong with him. 

The soup he had eaten had come up, as Diego predicted, only an hour after he had eaten and left Klaus shaking and pale. His feverish green eyes were glued to the TV and he was lying heavily in Diego’s lap, who, in turn, busied his hands in brushing through Klaus’ curls.

“How’s the patient?” Dr. Cooper asked with a friendly smile as he found Klaus awake.

“Fever’s gone down” Diego informed from the bed. “But not by much. He’s still fluctuating between being too cold and too hot for a few hours now and he puked a couple of times since your first visit, Doc.” Klaus mumbled something that Luther couldn't understand but Diego replied to with a quiet ‘Yeah, I know, Buddy’. 

Slowly, Diego extracted Klaus from his lap and laid him down on his back. Klaus was putty in Diego’s hands like a ragdoll. He barely seemed to register that he was being moved anyway. Diego never left his side, however, as Dr. Cooper started checking on Klaus. He remained next to the bed, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. 

“Has he eaten anything?” Dr. Cooper asked as he was taking Klaus’ blood pressure.

“He had a bit of soup earlier” Luther replied. “Like you suggested. He only ate half of it though … and then he puked it out an hour later.”

“Yeah, that was to be expected” The man sighed. “His blood pressure is still a bit too high … I can give him something against the nausea so that he might keep the rest of his soup down then. He should definitely eat the rest of it later - he needs his strength. Maybe try feeding it to him after I left.” 

“We’ll do that” Luther promised and Diego quickly nodded in agreement.

“When has he last taken any drugs?”

“We don't know” Diego sighed. “Maybe … an hour before we found him. So … not even twenty-four hours ago.”

“Then the worst is yet to come.” Dr. Cooper replied as he obviously tried to suppress a sigh. 

Dr. Cooper should be right with his assessment. After he had left, Diego had fed the rest of the soup to their brother, and right after, Klaus had fallen asleep. Diego and he had stayed up for a bit longer, taking showers, sitting in the fresh air just outside their room, and then returned to go to bed themselves. 

They were torn awake yet again by Klaus trashing in his bed and letting out a pained whine a few hours later. Diego, who was sleeping in the same bed as Klaus, was naturally the first to be woken up by that and as Luther got his bearings back, Diego was already hovering and taking stock of the situation.

Klaus was writhing on the bed, drenched in sweat from head to toe but as Luther touched his skin, he was freezing to the touch. His eyes were wide open and darting around the room, wild and panicked like those of a feral animal.

“Klaus” Diego tried to get his brother’s attention. “Klaus, hey … hey buddy, what's wrong?”

“It's too loud!” Klaus whined. 

“Too loud?” Luther asked quietly and looked around, almost expecting to see that the TV was running loudly without him noticing it first. Of course, the TV was shut off and there was no sound except for Klaus’ whines and Diego’s soft cooing. 

“They are too loud! They won’t shut up!” Klaus was pressing his trembling hands so hard to his ears now that his knuckles turned white before he started pulling at his hair. Maybe Luther should have known at that point that the nightmare that they had maneuvered themselves into, had just begun.

**-End of Chapter 2-**


	3. Chapter 3

They didn't get any sleep after Klaus had woken them up again in the middle of the night. To Luther, it became harder and harder to stay in the same room as Klaus was in the thralls of his withdrawals. His fever had spiked in the wee hours of the morning again so high, that they had been forced to put their brother through another ice bath, all the while Number Four had tried to fight against them with teeth and claws, kicking and screaming like a mad man. It had taken them both a moment to come to the realization that Klaus didn't recognize them. In all honesty, it was a miracle that the motel owners had not yet kicked them out. 

By this point, there was no telling what was happening in Klaus’ mind as he started to flinch away from his own brothers, seemingly panicked by their mere presence in the same room. Not even Diego could touch him without Klaus panicking and crying. It was heartbreaking. 

“You are in the thick of it now,” Dr. Cooper said over the phone as Luther had fled from the room to go to the payphone near the lobby. “I told you it would get rough. Your brother has a long and hard way ahead of him but if he pulls through the next twenty-four hours, things should start to get better and he should be starting to improve by tomorrow morning. As of right now, there is not much I can do to help. You can administer the drops against nausea every four to five hours so that he can actually eat something and regain some strength and, if the fever spikes again, you can administer the fever-reducing medicine I left. Other than that, I’m afraid, without methadone at my disposal and without knowing what exactly your brother is hooked on except heroin, you will need to soldier through or admit him to a hospital - which I would still strongly suggest you do.”

“Thank you, Doc,” He said even though the doctor had not really helped him at all. It wasn’t Dr. Cooper’s fault, of course. The good doctor had said from the start that there wasn’t much he could do for them. He was doing his best already and Luther ought to be thankful for his time and effort. It was just … he was so fucking exhausted. “If he gets worse again tonight … I’m gonna convince my brother to take him to a hospital. However … Klaus is delusional and hallucinating as it is already and if we put him in a hospital … I’m afraid that would make it worse for him.”

“You mean because of his powers?” The man inquired with a sense of curiosity in his voice. At least, Luther thought, they didn't need to convince the man of their powers and of Klaus’ plight. This right here was the one good thing about being famous. 

“Many people die in hospitals, doc” Luther said quietly. “and my brother is like a magnet for all those lost souls.” Even though it had taken Luther a long time to actually grab that fact about Klaus’ powers and how awful they truly were. Until he had found Klaus in that drug den, he had been happy to account his addiction to Klaus just being weak and an attention whore. It had taken him seeing Klaus go through this hell and to talk to Diego about all this to understand just why his baby brother had ended up in this situation in the first place - why he had been willing to go so far just to smother his powers. 

“However, if it's becoming a life or death situation-”

“Yes,” Luther interrupted. “Then we will be taking him there.”

Luther hung up after that and stayed where he was for another moment, leaning his forehead heavily against the phone. He took a deep breath, collected himself, and turned to walk back to the room. Even before he opened the door he could hear Klaus screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Get off of me!” He all but screeched as Luther entered the room while Diego was desperately trying to keep Klaus down on the bed with his hands pressing Klaus down by the shoulders - which only seemed to freak Klaus out even more.

“What are you doing?” Luther asked, his heart racing at the sight as he noticed Klaus’ bleeding nose.

“Help me hold him down!” Right then, Klaus managed to swing at Diego and hit him in the face. Diego flinched away from Klaus at that as blood dripped from Diego’s lips. Before Luther even knew what was going on, Diego was already storming past him and out of the room. The door slammed shut behind Diego and Klaus remained a blabbering, crying mess on the bed, curling in on himself and making himself as small as possible. He was torn at the sight before him. Of course, he knew that he should remain at Klaus’ side but he also wanted to see if Diego was okay. For a second or two he would be able to leave Klaus, he assumed. Quickly, he followed Diego outside and found him standing in the drizzling rain in the parking lot.

“Go away” Diego snapped but he could hear the pain in his voice. All of this was even harder on Diego than it was for Luther.

“What happened?” Luther asked as he bridged the distance and put his hand on Diego’s shoulder. Number Two didn't shake off his hand but he was tense. 

“It's just … it was just too much” Diego whispered then. “Seeing him like this. His nose started bleeding and I just wanted to clean it off. But he freaked out and … Realizing that he doesn’t even recognize me at all- He was so afraid of me just now. And I don't know … maybe … maybe the memories of his time in that house are coming back … maybe he thought … I don't know … it's too much.”

“Yeah … I get it.”

“Do you?” Diego scoffed and Luther couldn't help the annoyance that he felt bubbling up inside of him because of it. He knew that Diego was just hurt like a wounded animal and that he lashed out when he was hurt. It was still annoying to Luther. They were in this together, after all.

“Listen … Just because Klaus and I were never close like you guys were doesn't mean I wouldn't love him. He’s my brother. It hurts to see him like this. But we have to be strong now for him, right?”

“Just … just give me a moment.”

Luther nodded. “Alright. Hey … maybe take a walk or … get us something to eat, okay? I’m taking care of Klaus in the meantime.” Diego seemed almost thankful as he nodded but he remained rooted to the spot until Luther was walking back inside. 

As he was trudging back towards the room, however, he was dreading to go back inside. He really didn't want to face whatever nightmare was waiting for him inside. As he opened the door and walked back in, he didn't find Klaus on the bed as expected. His heart stopped for a beat before he noticed the cowering figure of his brother in the corner of the room wedged into the small nook between the nightstand and the wall. He had his hands pressed to his ears, his eyes screwed shut tightly, gnawing on his bottom lip and rocking back and forth slightly. 

Luther didn't know what to do for a moment because he didn't want to spook Klaus even further. He felt pushed forward by some invisible force, however. Slowly, he walked around the bed to where Klaus was. His brother couldn't see him, of course, with the way he was holding his eyes shut right now. He crouched down before him and then carefully put a hand on Klaus’ left knee to get his attention. Immediately Klaus’ green eyes snapped open and he almost expected Klaus to start fighting again. Instead, Klaus all but threw himself at Luther so he could only try and catch him around the waist.

“Hey … it's okay” He murmured quietly. “It's all good”

Klaus held onto him as for dear life as Luther carefully lifted him off the ground and placed him back on the bed. He was still so fucking weak, his body unable to support itself. After he had maneuvered Klaus back onto the bed, Luther found himself unable to let go of his brother’s frail boy. And Klaus was clinging to him as well. He and Klaus had never shared a particularly strong bond and Luther had not often shared physical contact with any of his siblings - except for Allison, perhaps - so it was a little weird for him as he found himself sitting on Diego and Klaus’ bed, holding his brother in his arms who had been a violent raging beast just minutes ago and was now seemingly desperate for the contact and closeness Luther could offer him. 

“Everything is okay,” He said again and Klaus breathed out a shaky sob in response.

“They are too loud” Klaus sobbed. “Too close … They never leave me alone.” 

“Tell me about them” 

“I can't” Klaus whined. “They are too loud, Lu! They are always too loud!”

“What do they look like?” But he didn't get an answer. Klaus just clung to him, crying into the thick fabric oh his knitted sweater until he fell asleep once more in exhaustion. At least, he thought, he was starting to get a little clearer. He was starting to answer them when they talked to him. It was a start but they had a long way ahead of them still. 

※※※※※※※

In the later hours of the day, namely close to the evening, the throwing up and the fever stopped and Diego and Luther were granted a short reprise from mopping up vomit or emptying full-buckets. Klaus had been sleeping for four hours as he woke up in the early hours of the evening. Diego had returned to the motel about an hour after his incident with Klaus, after walking off his anger and fury about what had happened. He had brought food at his return and, while Klaus had been asleep, the brothers had eaten and napped to regain some strength. 

When Klaus woke up in the evening he seemed groggy but no longer completely delusional. He looked at them with a bit more clarity now and for a moment, Diego wondered just how much Klaus remembered at all from the moment he had woken up in the backseat of his car to now. 

“I feel like crap” Klaus whispered. His voice was hoarse and Diego winced at the sound. Poor thing. His throat must be completely torn and shredded from all the vomiting or the screaming. 

“Yeah” He replied quietly and drove a hand through Klaus’ hair. It was nice to see that Klaus was actually leaning into the touch. “You look the part, Sunshine.” 

“Do you want some soup?” Luther smiled as he held up the plastic container Diego had brought with him. “It's chicken soup” Again. Klaus probably didn't even remember the last time he had eaten anyway.

“Mhm” Klaus muttered quietly but his hands were trembling so badly that Diego doubted that he would be able to hold the container. He took it from Luther after the big guy had reheated the soup in the motel’s dirty microwave and held it for Klaus while he ate carefully and slowly. Every bite seemed a chore for the young man and his fingers were trembling so bad that there were numerous times he almost dropped his spoon.

“Feeling better?” Diego asked when Klaus had managed to eat the whole thing.

“A little” Klaus sighed and leaned heavily into the pillows behind him. “I don't even know … how long’ve we been here? Where are we?”

“A motel in a small town near Baltimore,” Diego replied right away. “Remember? We wanted to go to L.A.”

“That was a stupid idea” Klaus murmured.

“We came to the same conclusion, yes” Luther laughed. “What do you remember?”

“Not much” He replied. “Almost nothing.”

“And from before?”

“You mean … before you found me? I dunno. Nothing really. It's all a blur.” Diego didn't really believe that but he didn't want to pressure Klaus. Sooner or later, his brother would open up to him, he was sure of this. Right now, the most pressing matter was his detox. “I’m sorry for puking so much”

Diego laughed. “It's alright.” He replied warmly. “Hey, would you fancy a hot bath? We also got you some clothes.”

“Sounds heavenly” Luther immediately went over to the bathroom and started running the bath for their brother. He was glad that Klaus actually wanted to have a nice hot bath, however, he knew that soon the peace would be disrupted again. Soon the bargaining would begin, he knew that. The worst part of the detox was always the bargaining and the pleading for relief through drugs. Even if Klaus was willing to get clean now, he would still fight it. It was natural. And, after all, they had not even talked about getting clean with their brother. Well, in Diego’s opinion, there really was nothing to argue here. If necessary, he would beat his brother into submission now. 

After his bath, Klaus was dressed in the soft pair of purple sweatpants that Luther had gotten his brother and a large band shirt, lounging on the bed. He looked already a lot better than before his bath as he got back into bed with Diego’s help. Luther was already switching on the TV for some more cartoons and Diego got comfortable next to Klaus. 

“Can we watch Oprah or something?” Klaus then murmured as he was draping himself over Diego’s lap. Diego barked out a laugh as Luther dutifully switched channels and doomed both himself and Diego to reruns of Oprah for the rest of the night. As long as it helped Klaus, however, both brothers were fine with indulging Number Four. At least their brother was laughing occasionally at Oprah’s witty commentary. 

Klaus fell asleep around ten PM again and slept through the night, leaving his brothers with the hope that the worst was behind them now. However, the next day started early, before sunrise, with cold-sweat, pained moans, and the first pleas for drugs.

“Dee please” Klaus whined as he dug his fingers into Diego’s shirt. “Just a bit of weed … or … isn’t there anything in the minibar?”

“No, Klaus.”

“But it hurts to fucking bad!” Klaus' eyes were big, watery, and pleading and Diego felt torn even more than before when his brother had just been crying and screaming. A part of him wanted to help his brother out but, of course, he couldn't possibly cave now. 

He had been here before a few years ago during Klaus’ very first detox still at the academy and right now it was no less horrible and gut-wrenching than it was back then. He was an adult now and still, he wanted to do nothing more than allow his brother to keep destroying his life. At least he was not alone with that. Luther looked pained as well at the sound of Klaus’ pleading and the sight of his trembling fingers.

“I don't even want to get fucking clean! You can't force me!” Klaus then yelled, changing the tactic from one of pleading and appealing to Diego’s protective urges, to one of anger.

“Yeah, well tough luck then,” Diego replied just as angrily. “Because I’m not asking. And you know fucking why we are not asking? Because we don't want to find you dead in a crack house again after god knows what happened to you there for three months! Oh, and by the way, _friend_ , you will get a fucking aids test soon because you could now carry all kinds of fucking diseases around with you, asshole! So no, we are not _asking_ you if you want to get clean. You _will_ get clean, or so help me God, Klaus!” 

Klaus was stunned into silence for a moment and for once Diego had no idea if his words had actually registered in the part of Klaus’ brain that was not slave to the drugs he had decided to poison himself with for years now. 

“Like you cared!” Klaus suddenly shot back then, almost in a shriek. “I don't need to do what you guys fucking want, Number Two! Don't act as if you cared now just because you happened to stumble over my dead ass! I am just an inconvenience to you guys and nothing else - like I always was!”

“What?”

“Be fucking honest! If you wouldn't have accidentally found me there I would still be drugged out of my mind in some fucking alleyway and you wouldn't care about it!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Diego yelled back without thinking about what he was doing. “You want to know why I was at that fucking location, to begin with? Because of you, Klaus! Because I was trying to keep tabs on you for the past couple of years and because I was fucking terrified about you when I didn't see you around for months! I went out of my fucking way to survey those assholes and this place because of you! Because I was afraid to find you there! Because I was afraid you had been sold to someone and that I would never see you again!”

He expected Klaus to keep yelling at him the way his eyes looked right now but then, all the fire drained out of them in an instant and his brother was once more reduced to a tearful mess in his arms. Detox was just a fucking nightmare for everyone involved.

※※※※※※※

“So, how’s Klaus doing?” Hearing Allison’s voice again after their first conversation on the phone only two days ago was like music to his ears. He was exhausted and strung out from the events of the past couple of days. In all honesty, he just wanted to collapse somewhere and sleep for a few weeks.

“He’s getting better” Luther replied calmly even though he felt like he had aged by ten years. “But it's a slow process. At least he’s no longer feverish and he eats … He still wakes up puking sometimes but … it's a start. But he’s getting restless. Shivering and bumping his legs and asking for painkillers or alcohol or weed … it's a battle. Well, good thing he is so weak … otherwise, he would probably have run off already to get a fix of anything somewhere.”

Allison gave a low sigh. “As soon as he is in the condition to travel again, I’m waiting for you guys here. I got everything ready. I called Vanya too.”

“Vanya?” He echoed in surprise. “Why?” A part of him felt bad for not even considering calling his other sister. It was easy to forget her existence sometimes.

“Well because!” Allison huffed. “I just thought … This is a family matter, right? She should be here too when you guys come. Klaus is her brother too and when I called her she immediately left everything behind and got to the airport. She was so worried when she heard what happened. She should be arriving tonight, actually.”

Luther didn't know how to feel about the prospect of meeting Vanya again at Allison’s place. He hadn't seen her since she moved out and even before that, they hadn't really talked all that much. “You’re right” He then yawned. “It's a family matter.”

“Hey … Luther … How are you holding up?” She sounded honestly worried and that brought a smile to his face again.

“I’m fine” He lied and he knew that Allison would be able to tell right away. They used to tell each other everything - well, that was before Allison had abandoned him. Maybe _abandon_ was a strong word but … he couldn't help how he felt, right? He felt like she had left him behind.

“Sure you are” She replied. “And what about Diego? I’m sure this is tough for him.”

“He’s holding up alright” He then replied. “I mean you know how he gets. He would never accept help so … I take over mostly when he falls asleep from exhaustion. But yeah … it's hard on him. Klaus sometimes says really nasty stuff to him. I’m being honest … If Diego wouldn't be here, I would have probably already left or punched Klaus a few times by now. But Diego knows how to handle him and his tantrums so … I’m glad he’s here.”

“To see the day when Number One and Number Two are actually working as a team.” She mused with a quiet laugh. He could hear the doorbell ring on her side of the line. “Oh! That's my agent. I’m sorry, I have to hang up. Call me if you need more money or when you get back in the car, okay?”

“Sure … Thanks, Allison.”

“Don’t even mention it.” She said and he imagined her smiling as she did. That sunny smile that could light up a whole entire room. He remained in the phonebooth for a moment longer after the call was ended and listened to the dud-dud-dud coming through the line. In a few days, he would see her again and although a part of him couldn't wait for it, there was another part of his brain that was afraid to see her in her new home and in her new world, her new life. In a way, it didn't feel right to infringe on the life she had created for herself in Los Angeles. Well, they could always travel further from Los Angeles onward, he assumed. 

_They_ … What a weird thing to think. Until now, he hadn't quite considered that Diego might not want to leave his life in the city behind. He had not even considered that Klaus might not want to go to L.A either. He was the leader and he was leading his brothers - without asking. As he overlooked the empty parking lot he thought that he was becoming more and more like his father - and while he once would have claimed this to be a good and thing and would have aspired to become more like Reginald, right now, he wasn’t so sure anymore if he truly wanted to become like his old man. His father had driven all his other siblings away, after all. He didn't want to drive his siblings away. He loved them. He hated being alone. He hated being lonely.

Maybe him wanting to help Klaus was completely selfish, and yet … at least he was doing some good while being selfish, right?

And, when he finally walked back to the room, he could hear Klaus laugh and paused to take a glimpse through the window. Inside, he could see his brother Diego, clad only in a towel around his hips doing some kind of pose for their brother on the bed while Klaus was holding his stomach and laughing. A moment later, Diego put a foot on the bed that Klaus was sitting on, showing off his leg as it seemed only for Klaus to drag a hand over the skin and laugh even harder.

He didn't want to interrupt this moment, not when Klaus was in such a good mood as it seemed, but he didn't want to stand here like a creep either. The door was ajar anyway so he could pull it open pretty silently. Now he could see what Klaus was laughing about.

“Did you shave your legs?” He asked incredulously and Diego almost jumped away from the bed in surprise. 

“So what if I did?” He asked defensively - just as he expected him to. 

“Why?” Luther laughed and walked closer towards his brothers - which wasn’t saying much since the room was so small anyway.

“Well, he said if I was a real man I would do it.”

“So … you did.”

“Obviously!”

“Yeah, because unlike you, _Diego_ is a real man.”

“I’m not gonna shave my legs.”

“But it's so much smoother! Feel Diego’s legs!”

“No!” He laughed as Klaus was grabbing his hand to direct it to Diego’s leg. He didn't try to fight his brother - not if Klaus was enjoying himself. If it meant Klaus was laughing, he would gladly make a fool of himself - just like Diego was, apparently. “Okay, okay! Smooth!” He then laughed and pulled his hand away from Diego’s skin. 

“Now is your chance, Luther, you can still shave it all off too!” Klaus wiggled his brows.

“So … I thought we could have a dip in the pool in the back of the motel?” Luther tried changing the topic quickly. “I mean it's warm enough”

“I doubt I could hold myself over water.” Klaus sighed, the desire to actually go for a swim shining through clearly, though.

“We buy you floaties” Diego cackled. “It's actually a good idea, though … in the water, you will be able to build up a bit muscle strength again more easily.” It surprised him that Diego was actually agreeing with him and even going as far as calling his idea good.

“So you want to drown me. I knew it.”

“No, I just don't want to fuck up my spine because I have to carry you around everywhere.” Diego huffed. “And I could do without seeing you naked all the time.”

“Oh, you enjoy that, just admit it.” Klaus huffed. “You’ve always had the hots for me”

“Remind me, Luther, who said that they wanted to marry me again?”

“Well, I still think it's a good idea.” Klaus grinned mischievously. “I mean, at least to fuck with Reggie, right? Plus, we would have the added bonus of not having to argue over our last name. I would be your loving hausfrau, waiting for you with your slippers when you return home from work to me. Lovely!”

“Alright, Love” Diego laughed. “Let me put on some boxer shorts and then we’ll drown you.” 

Later, when they got back from the pool, Klaus fell right asleep and only then Luther realized that not once Klaus had whined and begged for drugs or alcohol or painkillers since his return to the room. As Diego sat down with a heavy, exhausted sigh, Luther started to realize that all Diego had done since Luther’s return from his call with Allison had served only to distract their brother from his cravings. 

“What a day” Luther sighed as he too sank down on the bed in exhaustion. "I can't believe you shaved your legs for him."

"Yeah well, it distracted him" Diego shrugged. "I’m not above making a clown of myself."

"I sorta … envy that about you." Luther breathed out with a chuckle. It was a confession that he would never have dreamed of making. 

"What?"

"I envy that" He repeated with a roll of his eyes. "I could never … I mean I’m too-"

"Stuck up? Yeah, I realized" Diego laughed quietly. “Good I’m here then, huh?”

“Yes,” Luther nodded earnestly. “Actually, I don't know what I would do without you right now. I mean … if you hadn't been there when I found Klaus, I would have brought him back home and Dad would have probably started experimenting on him and his new powers. I don't know.”

For a moment, Diego didn't say anything - which was as good as a way to agree with Luther as any other. “What did Allison say?”

“She offered to send more money” He shrugged. “And said she got everything ready for when we arrive. Oh, she invited Vanya as well.”

“Vanya?” Diego sounded just as surprised as he had felt.

“It's a family matter, she said. Getting Klaus clean and making him stay clean. Vanya apparently thought so too. She should in Los Angeles as we speak. Apparently, she dropped everything when Allison called and got on the first plane.”

“She always jumped at every opportunity to be included,” Diego noted but there was no malice in his voice as he said it. Of course, they knew that it was true. Vanya had always been head over heels whenever they included her in anything. The realization that her reaction had been born from the way her siblings had always treated her, left a sour taste in his mouth.

“We waited too long to include her” Luther sighed.

“We waited too long for a lot of things” Diego commented dryly. “Including taking care of our baby brother here.”

“Do you really think he’s stay clean, though?”

“I don't know” Diego sighed. “I really don't know. We can only try and help him … the problem is not the drugs or the addiction, the problem is his powers. He drugs himself up to not deal with the ghosts and the memories of how our dear old papa treated him.”

“Do you think we can continue our travels soon?”

“Depends on how he’s feeling tomorrow morning. We should ask Dr. Cooper to come over and check on him. I think we got through the worst.”

※※※※※※※

It was freezing cold inside the motel room when Diego woke up. The first thing he noticed was the white cloud puffing out from his mouth as he took a breath. Weird. His skin felt like it was covered in ice as he blinked against the darkness. And then he noticed - felt - that they were no longer alone in the room. There was a figure leaning over him while he was lying in bed next to his sleeping brother.

“Don't freak out” He knew that voice. He hadn't heard it in years, though. Last time he had heard it … Ben had made a stupid joke before heading into his doom. They hadn't known that at the moment, though. Now, Diego didn't even remember Ben’s last words to him. Not that it mattered much, right? Not when Ben was sitting at the foot of the bed he was lying in, a shape woven out of pale blue light - just like the other people that were standing around in the room, watching him, Luther, and Klaus in silence.

“They don't know that you can see them” Ben warned. “Pretend that they are not there.”

Everything, the shock over the fact that Ben was sitting there at the foot of his bed staring at him as if he had never died, the fact that he was currently surrounded by ghosts - Diego didn't quite know how to handle all of this. 

“Shit” He let out in a whisper, his eyes focused on Ben, though. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the other phantoms clear enough to recognize some of them as a few of the bad guys that they had killed on missions. He swallowed. A few of them had knives sticking out of their bodies, a few had broken necks or broken backs. Those were the people Luther and Diego had killed. Those were their deathly entourage. 

“What is this?” He could hear Luther whisper from the other bed. He held his eyes closed. He had probably caught a glimpse of the ghosts that were surrounding them and heard Ben’s words before screwing his eyes shut again like a child pretending that the monsters under his bed couldn't see him if he just closed his eyes.

“Klaus” Ben shrugged.

Klaus, however, was fast asleep, his hands glowing in a faint blue light. He had never seen anything like this before from Klaus. 

“What do we do?” He whispered again, hoping that Ben would be able to help the situation but his brother seemed just as uncertain as Diego was.

“He never did this before” Ben replied calmly. “His powers are getting stronger. I don't know if he can control it either. But if I can interact with objects … so can they.”

He didn't need to say anything more than this - not when they were surrounded by former adversaries who had all found their end through Luther and Diego and were probably out for revenge right now. At least they didn't seem to realize what Ben had said or that Diego could actually see them.

“Should I … wake him?”

“That might make it worse” Ben replied even quieter. 

“Then what?” Luther hissed.

“Your guys’ best chance is to wait and hope that this drains Klaus’ energy … and that it stops on its own.” He noticed that Klaus was trembling beside him. With one more worried look at Ben, he pulled Klaus closer to his chest and pulled the blanket more around his brother. 

“Good to see you, Ben.”

“Same” Ben grinned. “I mean … I’ve seen you the whole time and shit but … yeah”

“You were there the entire time?” Luther asked. “Since…”

“Yeah” Ben smiled. “I tried to keep Klaus from trouble. He could see me despite the drugs - dunno why. He wouldn't listen when I said he shouldn't go to that place.”

“How bad was it?”

“Horrible” Ben murmured and there was grief to his voice. “He was too … drugged out of his mind since he first entered. He was never really awake when those guys … He wasn’t aware.” In a way, it was a relief. At least their brother had not felt anything, hadn't been scared, and hadn't been aware of what was happening to him. It was a small comfort in this nightmare that was going on. That wouldn't lessen the trauma that Klaus had suffered, though, that wouldn't lessen the blow to his psyche the moment Klaus would realize what horrors he’d been through. “I tried talking to him whenever he was awake but … I don't think he was aware of my presence during those times.” 

“Thank you for being there for him, though” Diego replied. “I should have forced him to get clean earlier.”

“You did what you could” Ben replied. Suddenly, however, he started to flicker, and then he and all the other ghosts were gone. Klaus’ hands stopped glowing blue but he was still fast asleep. 

“Fuck…” Diego sighed. “What a nightmare.”

※※※※※※※

The sun was peeking through the clouds as the little green car was brushing past the gateway sign to Los Angeles, the city of angels. The sunrays that were hitting all three passengers through the windows, were warm and promised of the fabled good weather California usually had on offer seemingly all year round. Klaus was curled up in the backseat with a ton of blankets and wrapped in comfortable clothes like in a cocoon. He was still cold and weak but at least he wasn’t nauseous anymore and he didn't feel like he needed to puke out his guts every five minutes. He was still fluctuating between being too hot and being too cold but at least the intervals had become bigger. 

His brothers stopped the car every two hours for Klaus to get out of the backseat and stretch his legs. He still very much felt like a baby deer or a newborn kitten reliant on the help of his brothers if he actually wanted to walk around. Still … they were getting there. Yet, despite his brothers' care and help, there was nothing either one of them could do about the constant itching he felt just underneath his skin.

“I’m proud of you, Klaus,” Ben said. He sat near his feet and Klaus hummed lowly in response. He didn't wish to think about the circumstances that had brought him here - but yes, he was proud too. Just a little. Luther was driving and Diego was humming in the passenger’s seat. He had driven all through the night and was certainly exhausted. Both his brothers looked like they wanted to sleep for a month after dealing with Klaus and his problems for almost a week in some motel in the middle of nowhere and yet they were still smiling at him whenever he would manage to eat anything that was not soup and actually keep it down.

“Welcome to Los Angeles!” Luther grinned as he looked over his shoulder at Klaus and Diego turned the volume on the radio just a little higher.

The truth was, as Diego started singing badly to some ‘90’s pop song, that he had never felt so loved in his life as he did right now with his brothers in this tiny car on his way to meet both his sisters. Knowing that Allison had already moved mountains to ensure that he would get the best care that could be bought with money for every single one of his long list of issues was almost a little overwhelming. For the first time, it really felt like he was part of a family and that his siblings actually cared about him. Well, sometimes it took dying to get there, he assumed.

**-End of Chapter 3-**

**Author's Note:**

> The end is a bit awkward but I just couldn't find a proper way to end it other than like this. In conclusion, the brothers are big dumb if they really go on a road trip with their deathly sick brother - but what else is new?
> 
> EDIT: So, I decided to add at least one more chapter - even though this was meant as a one-shot <3


End file.
